PMID- 35893198
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20230308
IS  - 2227-9032 (Print)
IS  - 2227-9032 (Electronic)
IS  - 2227-9032 (Linking)
VI  - 10
IP  - 8
DP  - 2022 Jul 24
TI  - Dynamics in the Neurotrauma Catchment Area of a German University Hospital during 
      the COVID-19 Pandemic.
LID - 10.3390/healthcare10081376 [doi]
LID - 1376
AB  - Objective: At the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic enforced a rapid 
      reallocation of healthcare resources. Our neurosurgical department is located in 
      the German county of Marburg-Biedenkopf, about 80 km from the nearest major city. 
      We were able to maintain our previously established open-door policy after the 
      emergence of COVID-19. Here, we report on dynamics in the catchment area for 
      neurotrauma patients at our department during the pandemic. Methods: 763 
      consecutive neurotrauma cases admitted to our department between 1 January 2018 
      and 31 December 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. Patients' age, gender, 
      origin, diagnoses, and outcomes were recorded. The number of patients 
      hospitalized with a COVID-19 infection in Germany (PHCG) were retrieved from the 
      Robert Koch Institute (RKI). We defined calendar weeks with >1000 PHCG as high 
      COVID-19 caseload weeks (HCLW). Chi-square and Fisher's exact served as 
      statistical tests. Results: In 2020 and 2021, we observed a significantly 
      increased number of neurotrauma patients who, with primary residence outside of 
      our district, were admitted to our hospital compared to 2018 and 2019 (p < 
      0.001), while there were no significant differences in in-house mortality. During 
      HCLW, a significantly increased number of neurotrauma patients with primary 
      residence in the densely populated southwestern margin (SWM) of the contiguous 
      part of our catchment area were referred to us compared to the time prior to the 
      pandemic and between HCLW (p = 0.003). In neurotrauma patients admitted from the 
      SWM during HCLW, there was no tendency towards higher in-house mortality. 
      Conclusion: An open-door policy may moderate the risk of involuntarily triaging 
      neurotrauma patients during a pandemic.
FAU - Rupa, Rosita
AU  - Rupa R
AD  - Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Marburg, Baldingerstrasse, 35033 
      Marburg, Germany.
FAU - Vladimirov, Tim
AU  - Vladimirov T
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-1793-1381
AD  - Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Marburg, Baldingerstrasse, 35033 
      Marburg, Germany.
FAU - Pojskic, Mirza
AU  - Pojskic M
AD  - Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Marburg, Baldingerstrasse, 35033 
      Marburg, Germany.
FAU - Nimsky, Christopher
AU  - Nimsky C
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-8216-9410
AD  - Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Marburg, Baldingerstrasse, 35033 
      Marburg, Germany.
FAU - Voellger, Benjamin
AU  - Voellger B
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0001-8615-5393
AD  - Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Marburg, Baldingerstrasse, 35033 
      Marburg, Germany.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20220724
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Healthcare (Basel)
JT  - Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)
JID - 101666525
PMC - PMC9332166
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - COVID-19
OT  - catchment area
OT  - neurosurgery
OT  - neurotrauma
OT  - pandemic
OT  - resource allocation
COIS- Author B.V. owns shares in the COVID-19 vaccine development company Biontech.
EDAT- 2022/07/28 06:00
MHDA- 2022/07/28 06:01
PMCR- 2022/07/24
CRDT- 2022/07/27 04:58
PHST- 2022/06/29 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/07/19 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2022/07/21 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/07/27 04:58 [entrez]
PHST- 2022/07/28 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/07/28 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2022/07/24 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - healthcare10081376 [pii]
AID - healthcare-10-01376 [pii]
AID - 10.3390/healthcare10081376 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Jul 24;10(8):1376. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10081376.